“Cash lost could always be earned again, but the pain of heartbreak lingered for years.” ~~ Macy Beckett (Book: Sultry with a Twist)

By the looks of the cover and the title, it seems like an interesting story. Let’s find out if ‘Sultry with a Twist’ indeed is interesting…

Genre: Contemporary Romance.

Main Characters: Mae-June Augustine, Luke Gallagher.

‘Sultry with a Twist by Macy Beckett’ ~~ Synopsis:

June is all set to open her martini bar in Austin. When she finds out that there’s an arrest warrant issued against her for something she’d done years ago.

Without solving the issue, she can’t open her business. So she decides to visit her hometown and sort out the issue with the judge, who issued the warrant. Surely, it’s some misunderstanding.

After meeting the judge, June gets two options: either she serves time in prison or does some community service for a month.

June chooses community service and settles down in her grandmother’s home. With whom June hasn’t talked to for almost nine-years due to a clash of opinions over what she’d do in her life.

Making peace with her grandmother isn’t the only thought on her mind, apart from how she’d survive a month and how her business partner would handle her business in her absence.

June’s not sure how she’d face her ex-best friend and the guy she loved so much years ago, Luke Gallagher.

Luke’s not looking forward to sudden meeting with June, not when she hadn’t replied to any of his letters in years.

But:

Luke doesn’t have an option to avoid her as long as possible. As he still sometimes stays at June’s grandmother’s home.

Now that June’s in the town, living with her grandmother, there’s no way he’d avoid seeing June.

June’s grandmother had raised Luke along with June, since his mother left him behind and took his sister with her.

Luke runs his construction company and also helps people in need via his charitable trust.

Luke’s troubles begin when June decides to help him. He needs strong willpower to avoid her, at the same time, he has to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble.

And to make sure he doesn’t fall for her when he believes he’s not worthy of her love. And she’s better off without him.

Review:

Minus Points:

1: Manipulating & hypocrite characters I’d not get over till the end of the story. Okay I’d have forgotten about it if they were not busy bragging about the success of their efforts in destroying June’s dream.

Because, of course, someone else knows what’s best for you and they have full right to decide when and how to make you see their plan is the one for you.

2: Thanks to such ‘manipulating’ characters I had amazing time not connecting with either June or Luke or even the plot.

3: At one point I thought June’s one month community service was almost over. But by some magic it seems that the days are stretched unrealistically.

Let’s assume it’s a four weeks month: First one week nothing happens so it’s gone.

By the time second one starts Luke’s friend is in hospital. Pretty much nothing happens for a couple of weeks besides Luke and June trying to ward off their attraction and not wanting to act on it.

Now there’s left only one week where so much happens that one wonders if it was a week or a full year.

4: June has a crush on Luke as long as she’d remember. Actually, she’s sure she loves him. At least in fiction I have nothing against this idea and rarely go to any lengths to destroy it. But in this case I will do just that.

So childhood crush and lust surviving adulthood is fine. But what was the need to add another manipulation?

June’s grandmother suggests that June needs to teach Luke how to love.

(Sounds like a school project…but at least in my school there was no such subject. Even if there was I’d have written just what I’m about to write: that you can’t teach someone to love you! Either someone reciprocates your love or not that’s 100% their decision. If you’ve to manipulate someone to love you then I hope you know it’s not love.)

June, gullible as she is, takes it as a challenge and tries to make him love her the way she does. June’s love Luke keep rejecting until she gives up her dream.

5: Not once I believed June and Luke loved each other so much that June gave up on her dream so easily. Something she’d worked for almost ten years!

And till the end, she’s thinking about going back to her business, starting and running it and somehow having Luke in her life as well.

When you’re this obsessed with your business, believing that you’d give it up without much fight is difficult.

6: Not once I got the impression that Luke’s supportive of June’s dream of opening a bar at all.

7: For some reason I didn’t picture June as someone who got into trouble. But the moment she gets to her hometown all of a sudden she’s a magnet for fatal accidents.

The title is quite appropriate. ‘Sultry with a Twist’ is a one twisted mess!

Plus Points:

It’s a sweet romance if you subtract the manipulating and ‘I-know-what’s-best-for-you’ kind of characters.

But:

Then there will probably be no story.

Nothing more than a one time read. And there will be no review of other books in the series as I have decided not to waste my time reading what I don’t like anymore. Let’s see how long that decision would last. 😀

“I love you were the most overused words on earth and most people didn’t understand or mean them.” ~~ Macy Beckett (Book: Sultry with a Twist)